1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a dental apparatus, and more particularly, to a dental polishing apparatus, i.e., a prophy angle, which is configured to facilitate the dispensing of paste from within the apparatus into a prophy cup upon selective actuation by a user.
2. Background Art
The use of polishing devices by dental practitioners is known in the art. Generally, such devices are termed prophy angles, and include a prophy cup which rotates about an axis. The prophy cup includes an inner cavity into which a polishing paste is inserted. Once the polishing paste has been applied to the prophy cup, the prophy cup is rotated and introduced to the teeth of a patient. The rotation of the prophy cup directs the paste along the surface of the teeth, and, by way of abrasion, serves to polish the teeth of the patient.
While the use of prophy angles has been known in the art for several years, there still exist a number of deficiencies associated with such prophy angle use. For example, in certain embodiments, the prophy angle may comprise a reusable device to which separate prophy cups are attached. Once attached, the paste is applied to the prophy cup from a separate, small container. However, use of such reusable devices may introduce health and sanitation risks when transferred from one patient to another, despite the changing of the prophy cup. Therefore, for sanitary purposes, the preferable embodiment of the prophy angle comprises a disposable, single-use device which is utilized for a single patient and is then discarded. However, while the use of disposable devices has been developed, the paste is nevertheless manually applied from a separate container, which may be inconvenient for the dental practitioner. To remedy this situation, certain new embodiments of prophy angles now incorporate paste dispensing means integrally associated with the prophy angle. While such embodiments exist, certain drawbacks have precluded the widespread acceptance and use of such devices.
Certain devices have included automatic feed mechanisms which include a particular feed rate when the device is operating. Often times, however, such systems are not reliable and the user has no ability to control the application of paste.
Other devices have provided a manually manipulatable application means. However, with many such manually manipulatable application means, it is quite difficult to control the quantity of paste that is applied. As such, often times, too little or too much paste is applied.
To overcome such deficiencies, other designs have relied on manually actuatable application means which provide a particular quantity of paste each time they are actuated. As such, the user can control the quantity of paste that is directed to a prophy cup. While such solutions have been an improvement, they nevertheless include various drawbacks. In particular, the actuation mechanisms and assemblies may be difficult to actuate due, in part, to the relatively small size of the prophy angles and, in turn, the actuating mechanisms. In addition, the actuation mechanisms and assemblies may be actuatable only when the prophy angles are disposed in a particular orientation. As the dental practitioner is constantly manipulating a prophy angle in a variety of orientations during polishing, it has proven difficult to actuate the actuation mechanisms and assemblies while such prophy angles are in use.
As a result, it is an object of the present invention to provide a prophy angle which includes a paste feed assembly that overcomes the deficiencies and/or drawbacks identified above.